The psychology of client retention for online training

Sometimes the idea of training online through an app sounds great to many people, so of course they sign up, begin with an offer or a trial, and then hopefully they turn into paying clients. However, how long do they stay as paying clients for?

Like anything in life, people are always more motivated about something new right at the beginning, and then that motivation slowly starts to run dry and eventually runs right out.

What can we do as online personal trainers to keep the motivation steady?

By keeping this initial motivation level steady or continuously growing, you increase the time that clients commit to your services. It’s up to us to help clients build healthy habits and keep training them for longer! Many people are coming to you specifically because they know they have bad habits and are not living a healthy lifestyle, so clearly they want a change, or else they wouldn’t have signed up with your company in the first place.

It’s our job to reinforce these healthy habits in an organized manner to prevent overwhelming the client, but still stern enough to help them make the necessary changes to become healthier individuals.

What’s the Plan of Attack?

In the past, I have found that giving clients one new healthy habit each week is a great way to get them started without overwhelming them.

For example, this is what a healthy habit timeline could look like:

Week 1 = Drink at least 2L of water per day

Week 2 = Continue to drink more water (try to increase to 3L) and exercise for 3 days per week

Week 3 = Increase protein intake, reduce sugar intake, keep up with water drinking, and increase to 4 days of exercise per week.

You can see the pattern–remember this is just a quick example–you might have a different timeline for your clients, which is completely fine.

Trainerize can help us reinforce these healthy habits with clients!

In the Trainerize app, you are able to schedule specific check-ins with clients, which will come to their smartphones just like a notification or text message! We can schedule things like weigh-ins, workouts, or even message clientsmuch easier just to check in and see how things are going.

With these features, I already feel closer to my clients and more in touch with how they are doing with their workouts. I can quickly shoot them a message that I know they are going to get right away, not having to wait until they check their email.

Having simpler access to your online training clients will help you help them build healthier habits, and they will begin to feel closer to you. This will continue to build the trainer-client relationship, and in turn, begin to build client retention!